"And one bee!" Chloe chimes in. If Grace has the feel of a kindergarten, that's because it's a nursing home and a kindergarten—and a preschool—where 140 residents (average age, 85) read, play and commune with 60 4-and 5-year-olds from the local school district. Owner Don Greiner, a Harvard MBA and ex-ad exec who followed his father into the elder-care business, claims it's the only facility of its kind in the nation.
"Families are tortured at the idea of putting someone in a nursing home," says Greiner, 38, a married father of three. "When they walk in here, they're relieved." Adds Jenks assistant schools superintendent Diane Bosworth: "It's one of those rare experiences where everyone wins." After Greiner bought the facility in 1998, he spent $500,000 on renovations. Today it boasts a playground, an ice cream parlor, a beauty salon—and kids, kids, kids. The residents aren't the only ones who benefit. "I've helped the children build log cabins out of milk cartons," says Alsip, a widowed grandmother of 9. "Their eyes just sparkle."
As do Alsip's, proving Greiner's thesis: "You can have a nursing home that strives for the absence of pain, but that isn't enough. There needs to be the presence of joy."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
